2015- 16 INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR REVIEWING AND … · REVIEWING AND CORRECTING THE . PRELIMINARY 4-YEAR ... Assignment of withdrawal ... This document is intended to be used as an

2015- 16 INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR

REVIEWING AND CORRECTING THE PRELIMINARY 4-YEAR GRADUATION RATE COHORT FILE

Pam Stewart, Commissioner

November 2016

This document was prepared by staff in the Bureau of Accountability Reporting; Division of Accountability, Research, and Measurement.

Questions? Please call 850-245-0411 or e-mail [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]

2015-16 Instructions Manual for the 4-Year Cohort Corrections

Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1

Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 1

Table 1. Timeline .................................................................................................................... 1

Overview ................................................................................................................................... 2

How the Cohort is Built ........................................................................................................... 2

Adjusting the Cohort ........................................................................................................... 3

How to Calculate the Graduation Rate ................................................................................ 3

Table 2. Withdrawal Codes ..................................................................................................... 4

Reviewing the Cohort Files ..................................................................................................... 9

Table 3. List of Cohort Files .................................................................................................... 9

File Formats ..........................................................................................................................10

How to Download the Files ................................................................................................10

Table 4. Preliminary 4-Year File .........................................................................................10

Table 5. Statewide Duplicates File .....................................................................................11

Table 6. Withdrawal Definitions for Cohort File Only ..............................................................11

Reviewing the Files ...............................................................................................................12

Ensure there are no duplicates in the state ........................................................................12

Sort the Preliminary 4-Year File .........................................................................................12

Ensure there are no duplicates within the district ...............................................................12

Identifying DJJ Students in the Cohort File ............................................................................16

Assignment of withdrawal codes for DJJ students ..............................................................16

Withdrawal Code Transformation/Conversion Rules for DJJ Students ...............................17

Corrections Process for the Preliminary 4-Year File ............................................................18

Instructions for Correcting the Data .......................................................................................18

Using the Duplicates File .......................................................................................................19

Other Important Notes for Correcting the Cohort File .............................................................20

Submitting Cohort Corrections ..............................................................................................22

Cohort Review Window .........................................................................................................22

Edit Reject Rules ...................................................................................................................22

Edit Reports .......................................................................................................................23

Appendix A: Examples of Sorting the 4-Year File.................................................................24

Appendix B: Example Duplicates File ...................................................................................26

Appendix C: Frequently Asked Questions about Florida’s Cohort Graduation Rates .......27

2015-16 Instruction Manual for the 4-Year Cohort Corrections

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Introduction Accurate data are necessary to build reliable historical information, measure the achievement of state goals and report district and state graduation and dropout rates appropriately. Each district is strongly encouraged to properly use withdrawal codes to accurately reflect the circumstances under which students leave the district. While the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) does allow the opportunity to review and update prior year data for the cohort, districts must strive to submit accurate withdrawal data during the current school year surveys. Accurate data submitted the first time will make the final review process less time-consuming and will most likely yield more accurate results. Purpose This document is intended to be used as an instructional manual for correcting the preliminary 4-year cohort file. This instruction manual includes an overview of how the 4-year cohort is built and how that cohort is adjusted in order to calculate the graduation rate. A list of all applicable withdrawal codes, along with definitions, has been included, accompanied by a list of withdrawal status classifications of the withdrawal codes. Instructions for downloading the preliminary 4-year file and statewide duplicates file, reviewing these files, and correcting the preliminary 4-year file are provided in this instruction manual. The cohort review and graduation rate calculation processes are overseen by the Bureau of Accountability Reporting and are separate processes from the school grading calculations, although graduation rate is included as part of a school’s grade. Table 1. Timeline

Date Activity February 26, 2016 Final amendment date for 2014-15 Survey 5 data; Survey 5 closes April 26, 2015 DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P3YR file available for retrieval from

NWRDC DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS file available for retrieval from NWRDC

July 29, 2016 Due Date for 2015-16 Survey 5. October 14, 2016 Survey 5 data pulled for the preliminary 4-year file. November 7, 2016 Cohort corrections process begins

DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4 file available for retrieval from NWRDC DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPs file available for retrieval from NWRDC DPS##.GQ.F71407.Y15165 is the file name to be used to submit corrections Batches processed at 8:00 AM daily; edit reports, DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.EDITS, available after the file is processed

December 7, 2016 Close of cohort corrections window


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Overview Florida’s high school graduation rate is based on the percentage of students who graduated with a standard diploma within four years of their first-full year of enrollment in ninth grade in the state. However, adjustments are made to this cohort over time to

• add incoming transfer students based on their grade level and year of entry; and • remove deceased students and students who withdrew to attend school in another

state, private school, or home-education program are removed from the cohort. Each student in the resulting adjusted cohort receives a final classification as a graduate, dropout, or nongraduate. How the Cohort is Built The cohort is built first by including the following:

• All first-time 9th graders in the district in fall 2012-13 membership • Incoming transfers on the same schedule to graduate

o New 9th graders in 2012-13 o New 10th graders in 2013-14 o New 11th graders in 2014-15 o New 12th graders in 2015-16

The cohort is initially established using Survey 2 data (from the Student Demographic Information format) based on students first, full-year of 9th grade four years prior to the current year. In order to be considered enrolled as a first-time 9th grade student, students must

• have course records on the Student Course Schedule format during Survey 2 during 2012-13; and

• have an End-of-Year Status record indicating the student was enrolled in grade 9; and • not have a Grade Promotion Status coded “R” (which would indicate the student was

retained) in either 2011-12 or 2010-11. Once the first-time 9th grade students have been identified, the incoming transfer students who were not in public school in Florida in 2012-13, but are on time to graduate with the 9th grade cohort they would have been a part of if they had been here, are added to the cohort. The Student End-of-Year Status format is reviewed for each of the four years to identify incoming transfers on the same schedule to graduate as students in the initial cohort. At this point, the withdrawal codes from the Student End-of-Year Status format are identified in order to determine which students need to be removed from the cohort so that they will not be included in the denominator of the calculation. Data elements used in this step are the following:

• District Number, Current Enrollment


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• School Number, Current Enrollment o Except schools 3518 (McKay Scholarship Programs), N998 (home-education

programs), and N999 (private schools) • Student Number Identifier, Florida • Grade Level

The Prior School Status/Student Attendance format is used to determine Withdrawal Codes, and the Student End-of-Year Status format is used to determine Withdrawal Reason and Diploma Type. A withdrawal status is applied based upon the withdrawal code definitions listed below. Adjusting the Cohort1 The cohort is then “adjusted” by removing the following:

• Transfers to other public schools (excluding DJJ facilities) (W3A, W3B) • Transfers to private schools (W04) • Transfers to home-education programs (W24) • Deceased students (W12)

How to Calculate the Graduation Rate In order to calculate the graduation rate, the records identified above become the denominator, and the subset of those records that count as graduates are identified by looking at the diploma codes. The numerator consists of students who were assigned the following codes, which are defined in Table 2 on pages 4-9:

2015-16 and earlier: W06, W43, W52, WD1, WFT, WFW, WRW, WXL, WXT, WXW, W54, W55 2014-15 and earlier: W6A, W6B, WFA, WFB

Denominator: All students in the adjusted cohort

Total records in the file minus the previously excluded records indicating transfers out-of-state or -district (W3A, W3B), to private school or home-education programs (W04, W24), or students who have died (W12). Students with a DJJ flag of Y and withdrawal codes of W3A and W02 are converted to nongraduates at the last regular high school they attended prior to enrollment in the DJJ facility.

1 Different rules apply for DJJ students, as these students are walked back to the last Florida public school they attended prior to enrollment in a DJJ facility; unless there was a break in public school service before enrollment.


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Please refer to the Appendix A and Appendix B of the Student Database Manuals for a complete list of withdrawal codes: (http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/database-manuals-updates/2015-16-student-info-system/index.stml). Graduate codes that are not valid after 2014-15 were removed from the appendices prior to the 2015-16 school year, but remain listed below as a student could have graduated early with one of those diploma codes. Table 2. Withdrawal Codes

Withdrawal Code/Diploma Type and Definition How Withdrawal Code is Counted in the Graduation Rate Calculation

DNE – Any KG-12 student who was expected to attend a school but did not enter as expected for unknown reasons and required documented efforts to locate the student are maintained per s. 1003.26, Florida Statutes.

Dropout

W01 – Any PK-12 student promoted, retained, or transferred to another attendance reporting unit in the same school.

Nongraduate; still in school thus counted as a nongraduate.

W022 – Any PK-12 student promoted, retained, or transferred to another school in the same district.

Nongraduate

W3A3 – Any PK-12 student who withdraws to attend a public school in another district in Florida.

Transferred out of cohort

W3B – Any PK-12 student who withdraws to attend another public school out-of-state or out-of-country.


W04 – Any PK-12 student who withdraws to attend a nonpublic school in- or out-of-state or out-of-country.


W05 – Any student age 16 or older who leaves school voluntarily with no intention of returning and has filed a formal declaration of intent to terminate school enrollment per s. 1003.21, Florida Statutes.

Dropout

W06 – Any student who graduated from school and met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma.

Graduate

2 The W02 is counted as a nongraduate if the code is at the last school of enrollment for the student. 3 The W3A is converted to a nongraduate for DJJ students if it is walked back to the most recent regular high school and the home high school has no other completion code. That school or another school should have a more recent withdrawal code. If the DJJ facility has a W3A, then this student should already be counted at a regular high school. If not, it means this student is still in school.

http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/database-manuals-updates/2015-16-student-info-system/index.stml



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W6A – Any student who graduated from school and met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma, based on the 18-credit college preparatory graduation option.

Graduate; not valid after 2014-15.

W6B – Any student who graduated from school and met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma, based on the 18-credit career preparatory graduation option.


W07 – Any student who graduated from school with a special diploma based on option one - as referenced in State Board of Education Rule 6A-1.09961.

Nongraduate

W08 – Any student who received a (24-credit option) certificate of completion. The student met the minimum credits and local requirements, but did not pass the state approved graduation test or a concordant and/or comparative score, and/or did not achieve the required GPA.

Nongraduate

W8A – Any student who met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma (24-credit option) except passing the State approved graduation test and received a certificate of completion and is eligible to take the common placement test and be admitted to developmental education or credit courses at a state community college as appropriate.

Nongraduate

W8B – Any student who received a certificate of completion. The student met the minimum credits, but did not pass the state approved graduation test or a concordant and/or comparative score, and/or did not achieve the required GPA.

Nongraduate

W8C – Any student who met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma (18-credit option) except passing the State approved graduation test and received a certificate of completion and is eligible to take the common placement test and be admitted to developmental education or credit courses at a state community college as appropriate.

Nongraduate; not valid after 2014-15.


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W09 – Any student who received a special certificate of completion, is properly classified as an eligible exceptional education student, met applicable local requirements, and was unable to meet appropriate special state minimum requirements.

Nongraduate

W10 – Any student who completed the Performance-Based Exit Option Model Program requirements, passed the Performance-Based Exit Option Tests and the state approved graduation test, and was awarded a State of Florida High School Performance-Based Diploma.

Nongraduate

W12 – Any PK-12 student withdrawn from school due to death.

Transferred out of cohort.

W13 – Any KG-12 student withdrawn from school due to court action. (This code does not apply to DJJ placement.)

Dropout

W15 – Any KG-12 student who is withdrawn from school due to nonattendance after all procedures outlined in sections 1003.26 and 1003.27, Florida Statutes, have been followed.

Dropout

W18 – Any KG-12 student who withdraws from school due to medical reasons and the student is unable to receive educational services, such as those provided through the hospital/homebound program.

Dropout

W21 – Any KG-12 student who is withdrawn from school due to being expelled with no educational services.

Dropout

W22 – Any KG-12 student whose whereabouts is unknown and required documented efforts to locate the student are maintained per s. 1003.26, Florida Statutes.

Dropout

W23 – Any KG-12 student who withdraws from school for any reason other than W01 - W22 or W24 - W27.

Dropout

W24 – Any KG-12 student who withdraws from school to attend a Home Education program.

Transferred out of cohort.


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W264 – Any student who withdraws from school to enter the adult education program prior to completion of graduation requirements.

Nongraduate; remains in the cohort.

W27 – Any student who graduated from school with a special diploma based on option two-mastery of employment and community competencies.

Nongraduate

W43 – Any adult student who graduated from school with a standard diploma, 24-Credit Option.

Graduate

W45 – Any adult student who left school with a State of Florida diploma (GED).

Nongraduate

W52 – Any adult student who graduated from school with a standard diploma and satisfied the graduation test requirement through a concordant and/or comparative score, 24-credit option.

Graduate

W54 – Adult standard high school diploma (ACCEL) 18-credit option.

Graduate; added in 2013-14.

W55 – Adult standard high school diploma (ACCEL), alternate assessment score, 18-credit option.

Graduate; added 2013-14.

WD1 – Any student with disabilities who met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma who deferred receipt of the diploma to remain eligible for FAPE, per section 1003.4282(10)(c), F.S.


WFA – Any student who graduated from school with a standard diploma based on an 18-credit college preparatory graduation option and satisfied the state approved graduation test requirement through a concordant and/or comparative score.


WFB – Any student who graduated from school with a standard diploma based on an 18-credit career preparatory graduation option and satisfied the state approved graduation test requirement through a concordant and/or comparative score.


4 Transfers to adult education centers in another district or state must be coded W26 – not W3A or W3B.


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WFT – Any student who graduated from school with a standard diploma and satisfied the state approved graduation test requirement through a concordant and/or comparative score.

Graduate

WFW – Any student with disabilities who graduated from school with a standard diploma and an FCAT Waiver and/or Statewide Standardized Assessment Results Waiver.

Graduate; valid only for students who entered 9th grade prior to the 2013-14 school year.

WGA – Any student who completed the Performance-Based Exit Option Model Program requirements, passed the Performance-Based Exit Option Tests, satisfied the state approved graduation test requirement through a concordant and/or comparative score, and was awarded a State of Florida High School Performance-Based Diploma.

Nongraduate

WGD – Any student who completed the Performance-Based Exit Option Model Program requirements and passed the Performance-Based Exit Option Tests, but did not pass the state approved graduation test and was awarded a State of Florida diploma.

Nongraduate

WPO – Any student who is withdrawn from school without receiving a standard diploma and subsequent to receiving a W07, W08, W8A, W8B, W09, or W27 during the student’s year of high school completion.

Nongraduate

WRW – Any student with disabilities who graduated from school with a standard diploma and a Statewide Standardized Assessment Results Waiver.


WXL – Any student who graduated from school and met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma based on the Academically Challenging Curriculum to enhance Learning (ACCEL) options, F.S. 1002.3105(5).



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WXT – Any student who graduated from school and met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma based on the Academically Challenging Curriculum to enhance Learning (ACCEL) options, F.S. 1002.3105(5) and satisfied the state graduation test requirement through an approved state concordant and/or comparative score.


WXW – Any student with disabilities who graduated from school and met all of the requirements to receive a standard diploma based on the Academically Challenging Curriculum to enhance Learning (ACCEL) options, F.S. 1002.3105(5) and satisfied the state graduation test requirement with an approved statewide assessment waiver.


Students transferred to DJJ facilities Assigned back to most recent Florida public high school.

Reviewing the Cohort Files Table 3. List of Cohort Files

File Name File Description DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P3YR Used for review and research only. Do not send any

corrections made to this file to the FDOE. This file contains data for years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. Districts should note most of the W01s are seniors and their codes will be updated when the 2015-16 data are pulled in.

DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4 Contains data for all four years (2012-13 to 2015-16). Corrections should be made to this file.

DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS Contains the names of students located in multiple districts. Use this file to locate students reported in your file as dropouts or nongraduates. Do not alter this file in any way. Do not make any corrections in this file.

DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.EDITS Contains a summary of changes applied to the district file, if any were rejected, and why.

DPS##.GQ.F71407.Y15165 File name to use when sending corrections. DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4.ORIGINAL This is provided as a reference file and will not reflect

any corrections.


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File Formats *Please note the following files have one filler space after each field. How to Download the Files The data file DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4 must be downloaded from Northwest Regional Data Center (NWRDC) and then imported into appropriate software, such as Excel, Access, or SAS, for reviewing and editing. Only those staff with privileges to NWRDC can download this file. The first preliminary file with data for the first three years of the cohort (2012-13 to 2014-15) was made available on April 26, 2016.

Table 4. Preliminary 4-Year File: DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4 Format for Raw Data File F63494

Field Start End Length Definition DISTRICT 1 2 2 SCHOOL 4 7 4 LAST_NAME 9 25 17 APPENDAGE 27 29 3 FIRST_NAME 31 42 12 STUDENT_ID 44 53 10 ALIAS_STUDENT_ID 55 64 10 BIRTH_DATE 66 73 8 CCYYMMDD GRADE_LVL 75 76 2 RACE 78 78 1 GENDER 80 80 1 PRIMARY EXCEP 82 82 1 OTHER EXCEPTIONALITY 84 92 9 SWD (Y/N flag) 94 94 1 LUNCH (Y/N flag) 96 96 1 ELL (Y/N flag) 98 98 1 MIGRANT (Y/N flag) 100 100 1 HOMELESS (Y/N flag) 102 102 1 WITHDRAWAL_DATE 104 111 8 CCYYMMDD WITHDRAWAL/DIPLOMA_CD 113 115 3 WD CODE DEFINITION 117 126 10 AT-RISK (Y/N/NA) 128 130 3 DUPLICATED WITHIN STATE (Y/N) 132 132 1 DJJ STUDENT WALKED BACK (Y/N) 134 134 1 YEAR ENTERED NINTH GRADE 136 143 8 00000000 (most recent reported) CORRECT WD CODE 145 147 3 CCC - Update WD Code CORRECT WD DATE 149 156 8 CCYYMMDD - Update WD Date CORRECT SCHOOL # 158 161 4 SSSS – Update School Number CORRECT AT-RISK 162 163 2 AA - If the at-risk is incorrect


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Table 5. Statewide Duplicates Files (DUPS File) DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS Field Start End Length DISTRICT 1 2 2 SCHOOL 4 7 4 LAST_NAME 9 25 17 APPENDAGE 27 29 3 FIRST_NAME 31 42 12 STUDENT_ID 44 53 10 ALIAS_STUDENT_ID 55 64 10 BIRTH_DATE 66 73 8 CCYYMMDD GRADE_LVL 75 76 2 RACE 78 78 1 GENDER 80 80 1 PRIMARY EXCEP 82 82 1 OTHER EXCEPTIONALITY 84 92 9 SWD (Y/N flag) 94 94 1 LUNCH (Y/N flag) 96 96 1 ELL (Y/N flag) 98 98 1 MIGRANT (Y/N flag) 100 100 1 HOMELESS (Y/N flag) 102 102 1 WITHDRAWAL_DATE 104 111 8 CCYYMMDD WITHDRAWAL_CD 113 115 3 WD STATUS DEFINITION 117 126 10 AT-RISK (Y/N/NA) 128 130 3 DUPLICATED WITHIN STATE (Y/N) 132 132 1 Available after close of Survey 5 DJJ STUDENT WALKED BACK (Y/N) 134 134 1 YEAR ENTERED NINTH GRADE 136 143 8

Table 6. Withdrawal Definitions for Cohort File Only

Withdrawal Status Withdrawal Status Definition Corresponding Withdrawal Codes

Standard Diploma StanDip W06, W6A, W6B, W43, W52, W54, W55, WD1, WFA, WFB, WFT, WFW, WRW, WXL, WXT, and WXW

Special Diploma SpDip W07, W27 Completed GED GEDs W10, WGA, WGD Adult Education GED AdultGED W45 Certificate of Completion CertComp W08, W8A, W8B, W8C, W09 Transfer to Adult Ed AdultTrans W26 Transfer Out of Cohort OtherTrans W3A, W3B, W04, W24, W12 Dropout Dropout DNE, W05, W13, W15, W18, W21, W22, W23 Other Nongraduate codes OtherNGD W01, W02, any other code not listed above, or if no code was

provided DJJ Nongraduate DJJNGD W01, W02, or W3A DJJ facility withdrawal code attributed back

to the regular high school


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Reviewing the Files Ensure there are no duplicates within the state Report DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS is available at the same time as the unadjusted file, as a reference file to assist with locating those students who are coded as dropouts or nongraduates in your cohort but may be enrolled in another district in the state. The DUPs file is a listing of all students in the 2015-16 cohort who were enrolled in more than one school district during the four-year window. Being in the file does not automatically indicate a student has been coded incorrectly, it merely means the student has been enrolled in more than one district during the past four years. The file is already sorted to show the most recent enrollment first, and this is the district that “keeps” the student. DO NOT SORT THIS FILE. Sorting this file may lead to incorrectly marking a record as a duplicate. This not a verification file. It is to be used only as a tool to assist with locating students who did not enter as expected (DNE), dropouts, and other possible nongraduates. No action is required for this file. Districts should be aware that the Alias ID, while it should be the same, may not be the same from district to district. Therefore, it is necessary to use Last Name along with First Name and the Identifier, Florida ID Number, to search for duplicates. This file serves as an excellent tool for each district to review in order to determine if any of their students were enrolled in another district after leaving their district. It is the district’s responsibility to review this file and make the appropriate revisions in the cohort file if a student in the district was later enrolled in another district. Sort the Preliminary 4-Year File, DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4 Sorting the files multiple ways will provide different opportunities to identify students who are duplicates within the district, whose school number is incorrect, whose withdrawal code and/or date needs to be updated, or whose subgroup information needs to be corrected. The files can be sorted in various ways:

• Alphabetically • School Number • Withdrawal Code • Subgroup, such as Race or At-Risk

Ensure there are no duplicates within the district This is the first step that should be done at the district level. The file is already sorted alphabetically and should be reviewed by district-level staff to determine duplicates within their district before any other sorting. Sorting the entire file by name will allow the district to determine if there are any duplicated students within the district. FDOE programming uses the Alias ID as the key field to build the cohort. Therefore, if the district erroneously assigns the


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same student a different Alias ID Number, this student will be listed twice in the cohort, especially if the student changed schools within the district. This alpha listing is a good first look in reviewing your cohort list. Individual schools will not see the entire cohort list and, therefore, would not know if a student is also on another school’s list, so it is very important district-level staff review the file for duplicates before disseminating to school-level staff. Enlist the assistance of school-level staff Sorting by school number (after reviewing for duplicates within the district) provides an easy way to divide the list by school in order to distribute school lists to school-level staff. It is recommended that the districts develop a secure process for providing the student-level files to the schools. If districts choose to e-mail their reports, they must ensure the file is password protected. It is recommended district staff require a school designee to verify by signature that their school’s data have been reviewed for accuracy prior to submission to the FDOE. A school’s grade cannot be appealed because of the graduation rate. District-level staff should review the final data file prior to submitting it to the FDOE. Pay special attention to those students who count against the cohort Sorting by withdrawal codes allows the districts to generate reports based upon a certain withdrawal code. For example, districts may wish to sort by a specific withdrawal code, such as W15 or DNE, to see how many dropouts there are in the district. The most critical withdrawal codes to review are those codes that count against your district or school cohort: students coded as dropouts, students coded as still being enrolled in school (W01 or W02), or students coded as certificate of completion recipients. Students coded with transfer codes or a withdrawal designation of W3A, W3B, W04, W24, and W12 will be removed from the school/district unadjusted cohort after the cohort corrections process. Is the school number correct? An incorrect school number should not occur very often. School number corrections to a DJJ or adult education centers are not accepted, and the school number must be in the Master School Identification (MSID) file. If there is a school number for a school that does not serve high school students, then be sure to correct the record.


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Does this school serve 9th through 12th grade? Pay special attention to the types of schools included in the file. The cohort is built based upon the grade level and not the school type. A student enrolled in an elementary or middle school and incorrectly reported with a grade level of 9-12 will cause a cohort to be generated for that school and will be included in the district’s totals. These students should be updated with DEL to be removed from the cohort. This is a quality check that should be done at the district level. Is the withdrawal date correct? Districts should ensure the withdrawal date is as accurate as possible. The withdrawal date should be the date the student withdrew from the school, not the date a correction was made in a local system. It is not uncommon for students to withdraw at the end of the school year in their fourth year of high school with a W3A, W3B, W04, or W24 code; however, these codes indicate the student did not graduate within four years. It is very important the correct withdrawal date appears in the file. Technically, any code other than the diploma code for students withdrawing at the end of the school year in May or June 2016 indicates the students did not graduate within four years. Transfers to adult education centers Students transferring to an adult education center located in another district or state must be reported with a withdrawal code of W26 and not a W3A or W3B. If it is determined via a records request or some other means that the student actually enrolled in another K-12 school and not the adult education center, then the transfer code may be changed to a W3A or W3B. The W3A code can only be used for the student transferring to a public high school in Florida that is listed in the MSID file. Should this student be in this cohort? The cohort is built upon the grade level of a student, but mid-year promotions, credit recovery programs, grade skipping, etc. cause some students to be included in a cohort a year early. If you find a student listed in the cohort too early, mark this student as a DEL in the update field. In so doing, the district should keep records of this student as the student must be manually added into the following year’s cohort file in order to be counted as a graduate in the correct cohort. Districts must be cautious when reviewing credits and assigning grade levels to incoming students, especially the mid-year promotions or transfers from other countries. Early graduates Diploma codes for students graduating with 18 credit hours or in less than four years are not counted until their cohort is scheduled to graduate.


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Students scheduled to graduate in 2016-17 but who actually graduated in 2015-16 are NOT TO BE ADDED TO THE 2015-16 COHORT FILE. These students should count as graduates with their cohort in 2016-17 and will appear in that file. It is very important the early graduates are counted with their cohort. Review students flagged as “At-Risk” While the graduation rate for those students identified as “At-Risk” is no longer included in the high school grades calculations, it is still very important for federal reporting. Students identified as “at-risk” are considered as those students in the lowest performing subgroup. Sorting by this subgroup for all students coded “Y” will provide the exact list of students in your cohort identified as “At-Risk”. This code can be updated if our data is incorrect. This designation is applicable only to those students who were enrolled in a Florida public school in 8th grade. Students not enrolled in a public school in Florida in the 8th grade are considered NOT “At-Risk.” Reporting adult diplomas and GEDs Districts should report adult diploma or GED data, if available, for all students listed in their cohort. Adult students who earned adult diplomas or GEDs in your district but are not listed in your district’s cohort file should not be added to your cohort file. The adult diploma or GED is credited to the high school the student attended—not the adult education center. This only applies to adult students who would be in the fourth year of the 2015-16 cohort. Review all W02 withdrawal codes Districts must pay special attention to the W02 transfer code. If this is the last withdrawal code for a student within the district, he or she is considered a NONGRADUATE. This code indicates the student is still enrolled in the district and thus did not graduate; otherwise, the student would have a diploma code or a dropout code.


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Identifying DJJ Students in the Cohort Students who transfer from other states into DJJ facilities in Florida are not included in a district’s cohort. Students who transfer from another district within Florida should be credited back to their most recent home district and count in that cohort per federal guidelines. This step is performed after Survey 5 because of the high mobility of this student population. The FDOE has made concentrated efforts to reduce districts’ burden in reviewing for these students. Prior to release of the cohort files, the following steps were implemented by the FDOE:

• Removing DJJ students counted in a prior cohort. Compares the list of students assigned to a DJJ facility during the four-year window to three prior year cohorts to eliminate as many of those who were positively identified and counted in a prior cohort. (This is done by checking the list of DJJ students against the final cohort files for 2014-15, 2013-14, and 2012-13). Students are removed from the 2015-16 cohort file if they are found in a prior cohort. This check is based upon the student’s ID number, birth date, last name, first name, and gender.

• Checking for enrollment in a regular high school after the DJJ sentence.

If the student was enrolled in a regular school subsequent to his or her DJJ enrollment, the DJJ record has been removed from our end in the district file and no further action is required for the student. Since this is a small population, a statewide comparison is feasible.

• “Walking” all remaining DJJ students back to their most recent regular high schools.

The DJJ school number, DJJ district number, DJJ withdrawal date, and DJJ withdrawal code for the DJJ facility will be provided in the review file with the credited regular high school.

Assignment of withdrawal codes for DJJ students The withdrawal codes from the DJJ centers will follow the students back to their last Florida public high schools; however, certain transformation rules will apply. Rule #1. All diploma codes and completer codes will take precedence, regardless of

withdrawal date, and will be used as the final withdrawal code definition for calculations.

Rule #2. W12 will take precedence over transfer codes of W01, W02, W3A, W3B, W04, W24,

or W26, and dropout codes DNE, W05, W13, W15, W18, W21, W22, W23, or W26. The final withdrawal code definition will be “OtherTrans.”

Rule #3. Prior school withdrawal codes of W3B, W04, or W24 will be counted as transfers for

the final withdrawal code regardless of the withdrawal code from the DJJ facility. These transfer codes indicate there was a “break” in the Florida public school


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service (transfers to a public school out-of-state, a private school, or a home education program). The final withdrawal code definition will be “OtherTrans.”

Example: A student was at High School AB in 9th grade (2012-13) but transferred during the summer to 10th grade at a private school for the 2013-14 school year. During the winter break in 2013-14, the student was arrested and sent to a DJJ facility in Florida. The student should not be in the cohort for High School AB, even though this is how the student shows up in our system. Districts should also review the duplicates file to ensure those students are not showing up in more than one non-DJJ school or district: File DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS.

Rule #4. DJJ students with W01, W02, or W3A transfer codes will be counted as

nongraduates when they are assigned back to a regular high school if no other transformation rule applies. The last code we would expect to see for any student in the cohort is a diploma code. This follows the same logic as the W02 (transfer within the same district) code, which indicates the student is still enrolled somewhere in the district and therefore is not a graduate. The final withdrawal code definition will be “DJJNGD.”

Rule #5. If none of the rules above apply, then the withdrawal code with the most recent

withdrawal date, regardless of school type, becomes the final withdrawal code definition for the graduation rate calculation for the regular high school. In most cases, this should be from the DJJ facility.

Withdrawal Code Transformation/Conversion Rules for DJJ Students (i.e., DJJ students walked back to a regular school) Withdrawal status definition for DJJ students walked back to a regular high school will equal the highest ranking withdrawal code, regardless of withdrawal date, using the following hierarchy:

1. If either school contains a standard diploma code (W06, W6A, W6B, W43, W52, WD1, WFW, WFT, WFA, WFB, WRW, WXL, WXT, WXW, W54, or W55), the WD Status Definition will be StandDip, regardless of the most current WD Date.

2. If either school contains a special diploma code (W07 or W27), the WD Status Definition will be SpDip, regardless of the most current WD Date.

3. If either school contains a GED code (W10, WGD, or WGA), the WD Status Definition will be GEDs, regardless of the most current WD Date.

4. If either school contains an adult GED code (W45), the WD Status Definition will be GEDs, regardless of the most current WD Date.

5. If either school contains a certificate of completion code (W08, W8A, W8B, W8C, or W09), the WD Status Definition will be CertComp, regardless of the most current WD Date.

6. If Prior School WD Code equals W12, the WD Status Definition will be “OtherTrans” and treated as a transfer.


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7. If Prior School WD Code equals W3B, W04, or W24, the WD Status Definition will be “OtherTrans” and treated as a transfer. These transfer codes indicate there was a break in public education services prior to adjudication to the DJJ facility.

8. If none of the above rules applies, then the WD Status Definition for DJJ students will equal the withdrawal code with the most current Withdrawal Date.

9. W01, W02, W3A, or W26 will be counted as a nongraduate and the WD Status Definition will be “DJJNGD”.

Corrections Process for the Preliminary 4-Year File Instructions for Correcting the Data Districts are to make corrections to the following fields only:

• CORRECT WD CODE (CCC) • CORRECT WD DATE (CCYYMMDD) • CORRECT SCHOOL NUMBER (SSSS) • CORRECT AT-RISK FLAG (AA)

Correct WD Code (CCC) Withdrawal/diploma code should be updated as necessary. This information will serve as a record of changes made to the file. This field is defaulted to CCC and should only be changed for those records that need to be updated. All PK-12 withdrawal codes and only the adult student completer/diploma codes are accepted; all acceptable withdrawal codes are on pages 4–9. Any other adult student transfer codes will be rejected. Additional applicable codes are as follows:

• DUP = Student is a duplicate. Mark only the duplicated student record that should be deleted. These students will be programmatically removed from the cohort.

• DEL = Student should not be in this cohort. An example of this would be 8th graders

incorrectly reported as 9th graders or repeaters. DO NOT DELETE THIS RECORD. PROGRAMMING WILL PULL ALL RECORDS CODED “DEL” FROM THE FILE BEFORE CALCULATIONS.

• ADD = Use this field to add a student who should be in the current cohort but is not.

Generally, this occurs when a student is pulled into the cohort a year early. This can occur when an 8th grade student is placed into 9th grade for summer school preceding the student's first regular school year as a 9th grader. It can also occur when students receive mid-year promotions, bumping them ahead of their cohort. During the prior year, when these students first appeared in the cohort a year early, they should have been deleted from that year’s cohort. However, they will need to be added manually back into the cohort for the appropriate year. ALL FIELDS MUST BE PROVIDED FOR STUDENTS ADDED TO THE FILE.


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o NOTE: JUST BECAUSE A STUDENT GRADUATES THIS YEAR DOES NOT MEAN THE STUDENT SHOULD BE IN THIS COHORT.

• NOT is for DJJ students only and indicates the DJJ student should remain with the DJJ

facility and not with the regular school. This code should only be used if the district determines the student attributed to the district is not the same person and was never enrolled in the district.

Correct WD Date (CCYYMMDD) Provide this only if the withdrawal date is incorrect. The date must be submitted in the format CCYYMMDD. Correct School Number (SSSS) Data must be entered as a four-digit number. Updates to a school number that is not listed as open on the current year MSID file will be rejected. Updates from a regular high school number to a DJJ/jail facility number will be rejected. Updates from a regular high school to an adult school will be rejected. Correct At-Risk Flag (AA) The grade 8 FCAT 2.0 data the district has on file are the official data. This field should be corrected if the district determines the at-risk flag is wrong for a particular student. To change the at-risk value, correct AA to Y, N, or NA, and left align Y or N so that column 163 is blank. Using the Duplicates File: DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS This file contains a list of all students who have been identified as being enrolled in multiple school districts within the state and is to be used in conjunction with the preliminary files. DO NOT SORT THIS FILE IN ANY WAY. This file is to be used as a tool to assist in locating those students coded as dropouts or nongraduates in your district who may be enrolled in another district. DO NOT UPDATE THIS FILE IN ANYWAY. The file is already sorted to show the most recent enrollment first, and this is the district that “keeps” the student. If your district was not the most recent to have the student, then update the withdrawal code accordingly. If the student is listed more than once for your district (this may be because of misspellings of the name, different ID numbers, etc.), then code these students as DUP. If it is determined that the students flagged as duplicates ARE NOT duplicates, then leave the record as it is and the action field blank. Students who are verified as being enrolled in multiple districts or schools should be corrected on the DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4 file through a correction. Do only one of the following:

1. Enter appropriate transfer code (W3A) in the CORRECT WD CODE field and the withdrawal date in the CORRECT WD DATE field if the student was enrolled in another district more recently than yours.


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2. DUP should be used if the student is duplicated within your district. Duplication usually occurs when the same student is assigned different ID numbers.

Other Important Notes for Correcting the Cohort File Alias ID Number DO NOT CHANGE A STUDENT’S ALIAS ID NUMBER! The file has already been built. Don’t delete a student and then add a student back with a correct ID number. The primary objective of this file is to ensure the student’s final withdrawal code is correct. No corrections are made to the automated student database from this file. This file is strictly used to calculate the graduation rate. School Number Updates The school number must exist on the MSID file, or the update will not be processed. Adult schools are not included in the graduation rate; therefore, adult school numbers are not accepted on the file. Updates to a DJJ/jail facility number are not allowed. Adult Withdrawal Codes Only adult completer codes (W43, W45, W52, W54, or W55) should be submitted on this file. All other adult transfer/withdrawal codes corrections will be rejected. All Withdrawal Codes Districts must ensure they have proper documentation, such as a records request, before updating any withdrawal codes, per the guidelines in the Automated Student Attendance Recordkeeping System Handbook:

Each district shall maintain attendance, absence, and withdrawal information on students enrolled in the district and be able to prepare, upon request, a record of each student’s entry, reentry, and withdrawal dates as well as that student’s days present and absent.

The handbook further stipulates:

A withdrawal is official when one or more of the following occurs:

1. A parent or legal guardian notifies the school that the child is permanently leaving the school to enroll in another school or in home education;

2. A request for the student’s school record is received from a public or private school, in-

or out-of-state, in which the student is enrolled or plans to enroll; 3. The student has been transferred within the school or district by school officials;

http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7574/urlt/atdm.pdf

http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7574/urlt/atdm.pdf


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4. The student has been promoted, graduated, has earned a certificate of completion or special certificate of completion, or holds a valid certificate of exemption from the superintendent as provided under Section 1003.21(3), Florida Statutes.

5. The student has died; 6. A student formally terminates school enrollment and the school satisfies the

requirements of section 1003.21(1)(c), Florida Statutes. (This should include information to the student related to driving privileges, CINS/FINS (Child-in-Need-of-Services/Families-in-Need-of-Services) providers, and the Learnfare Program;

7. A school executes and documents that the requirements of sections 1003.26 and

1003.27, Florida Statutes, have been attempted in good faith and that the student left school voluntarily with no intention of returning or that the student’s whereabouts cannot be determined.

A school is not authorized to withdraw a student from enrollment due to nonattendance as long as the student attends school, even if the student attends sporadically. A student may only be withdrawn from school due to nonattendance (W15) or withdrawn from school due to whereabouts unknown (W22) after all procedures outlined in sections 1003.26 and 1003.27, Florida Statues have been followed. Withdrawal due to other reasons (W23) should not be used unless all other avenues have been exhausted and the district specifically approves its use.

8. At the end of the school year, appropriate withdrawal codes must be recorded on the day after the last day of school for all students who are in membership on the last day of the regular 180 day school year. On the day after the last day of summer school, the appropriate withdrawal code must also be assigned to all students who are in membership on the last day of summer school.

For those students for whom requests for records are received over the summer or during the break prior to the beginning of the next regular school year, changes should be made in the withdrawal codes that will be part of the normal process for withdrawing students. Those withdrawals should be entered on the day following the last day of the school year or summer school, whichever is appropriate.


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Submitting Cohort Corrections Districts can send updated files (only one per day) until the close of the processing window, December 7, 2016. Once corrections have been made, the file must be saved in the same file format and file layout as it was received and then transferred back to the FDOE via NWRDC as DPS##.GQ.F71407.Y15165. When submitting via an FTP program, make sure your record length is set to no less than 165. Transmissions shorter than the original record length will not be processed correctly. Corrected files are to be sent as DPS##.GQ.F71407.Y15165 and will be processed daily. The same file name is used through the entire process. You may upload all records or only those with corrections. Only those records with corrections in the last four fields will be processed. Processing will occur automatically at 8:00 AM EST daily, and all files received by that time will be processed. The edit reports will be available later that same day. File F71407 will be saved to a backup library and deleted after the edit report is generated, so this same file name is to be used for all updates. NOTE: Corrections for the current-year Survey 5 data must be submitted via this file as well as the regular Survey 5 processing. However, corrections must be made to the cohort file in order to be included in the graduation rate calculations. The file will not be re-aggregated against the database. Cohort Review Window During the cohort review window, the following occurs:

1. Computer programs and automated procedures at NWRDC detect the presence of the district cohort file.

2. Appropriate programs are run to process the file and edit the data. 3. Edit reports are created. 4. The district downloads and uses the edit reports to correct the errors in the file.

Please note the district is required to download the reports; they are not sent automatically.

5. The district continues to submit updates to the cohort file, as necessary, to NWRDC; one file per day.

6. The process begins again until all necessary updates have been applied to the cohort file.

Edit Reject Rules

1. School Number must be numeric in the range 0001 to 9899 (excluding 3518 and 9001) and be listed in the MSID file—or the update will be rejected.


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2. School Number must not be updated to a home-education program number, DJJ/jail facility number, or adult education center number—or the update will be rejected.

3. Withdrawal code must be listed in on pages 4–9, DUP, DEL, ADD, or NOT—or the update will be rejected.

4. Withdrawal date must be in format CCCCMMDD—or withdrawal date update will be rejected.

5. At-Risk field must be updated to N, Y, or NA—or the update will be rejected. 6. If a withdrawal code update is “ADD”, then the School #, Last Name, First Name,

Student ID, Alias ID, Birth Date, Grade Level, Race, and Gender must be complete—or the update will be rejected.

7. Withdrawal codes W6A, W6B, W86, WFA, and WFB are not valid for the 2015-16 school year. Corrections with these codes and year 4 dates cannot be submitted—or the update will be rejected.

Edit Reports An edit report, DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.EDITS, is available daily after the updated file is processed. This report will indicate how many updates were made to your cohort file, if any were rejected and why.

• Total records processed (number of students in the file) • Total withdrawal code changes applied (a list of students whose WD Code was updated) • Total “ADDS” applied (a list of students who were added to the file) • Total “DELETES” removed (a list of students who were coded as DEL) • Total “DUPLICATED” removed (a list of students identified as being duplicated) • Total “NOTS” removed (only for those DJJ students who are not the same person from

your district) Sample Edit Report FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 12/10/15 4-YEAR FEDERAL GRADUATION RATE 11:21:35 STUDENT DATA EDIT CHECK -------- OLD VALUES --------- -------- NEW VALUES --------- DIST STUDENT ID BIRTH GENDER DJJ WCODE WDATE SCHL AT RISK WCODE WDATE SCHL AT RISK 02 1111111111 1994XX22 M Y W45 2012XX02 0012 N/A W26 2012XX28 0012 AA 02 2222222222 1996XX24 F W45 2013XX14 0012 N W04 2012XX23 0012 AA 02 3333333333 1996XX18 F W45 2013XX12 0012 N W26 2013XX03 0012 AA 02 4444444444 1994XX10 M W45 2013XX29 0012 N W26 2012XX15 0012 AA TOTAL RECORDS PROCESSED: 00278 TOTAL CODE CHANGES APPLIED: 00005 AT-RISKS: 00000 SCHOOLS: 00000 TOTAL ADDS APPLIED: 00000 TOTAL DELETES REMOVED: 00000 TOTAL DUPLICATES REMOVED: 00000 TOTAL NOTS APPLIED: 00000 TOTAL UPDATES REJECTED: 00000


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Appendix A: Examples of Sorting the 4-Year File Example 1: Sorted by Last Name File DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4

District School Last Name First Name Student_ID Alias_Student_ID Withdrawal Date

Withdrawal Code

Correct WD Code

Correct WD Date

37 2121 Arbor Tree 888888888X 888888888X 5/23/2014 W01 37 3456 Hubert Sunny 777777777X 777777777X 11/1/2013 W15 37 2121 Jones Jacob 123456789X 123456789X 2/3/2013 DNE 37 3333 Roberts Daphne 343434343X 343434343X 5/23/2014 W01 37 3456 Smith Joe 999999999X 999999999X 5/23/2014 W22 37 2121 Thomas Bob 676767676X 676767676X 3/9/2015 DNE DUP 37 3456 Thomas Bob 198989898X 198989898X 5/23/2016 W06 37 3333 White Thelma 456456456X 456456456X 5/23/2014 W01

Bob Thomas's Alias was changed when he transferred to school 3456. Therefore, he shows up in two different school cohorts. In the Action Field, put DUP for the record with the oldest withdrawal date. Programming will remove him from the cohort for school 2121. All other records are correct, so nothing is required. NOTE: If the student's Alias ID changed from one year to the next within the district, he will show up in the cohort as two different students. Sorting by last name allows staff to check for duplicate students in the cohort more easily. Example 2: Sorted by School File DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4

District School Last Name First Name Student_ID Alias_Student_ID Withdrawal Date

Withdrawal Code

Correct WD Code

Correct WD Date

37 2121 Arbor Tree 888888888X 888888888X 5/23/2015 W01 37 2121 Jones Jacob 123456789X 123456789X 2/3/2014 DNE W3A 20090203 37 2121 Thomas Bob 676767676X 676767676X 3/9/2013 DNE 37 3333 Roberts Daphne 343434343X 343434343X 5/23/2015 W01 37 3333 White Thelma 456456456X 456456456X 5/23/2015 W01 37 3456 Hubert Sunny 777777777X 777777777X 11/1/2014 W15 37 3456 Smith Joe 999999999X 999999999X 5/23/2015 W22 37 3456 Thomas Bob 198989898X 198989898X 5/23/2015 W01

Sorting by school number makes it easier to disseminate files to the individual schools for review. Jacob Jones was found in another district in August 2014; he is really a transfer. Put the transfer code in the Action Field and the date he withdrew to the other district as the Action Date. He will now be transferred out of the cohort for school 2121.


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Example 3: Sorted by Withdrawal Code File DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4

District School Last Name First Name Student_ID Alias_Student_ID Withdrawal Date Withdrawal Code

37 2121 Jones Jacob 123456789X 123456789X 2/3/2014 DNE 37 2121 Thomas Bob 676767676X 676767676X 3/9/2013 DNE 37 2121 Arbor Tree 888888888X 888888888X 5/23/2015 W01 37 3333 Roberts Daphne 343434343X 343434343X 5/23/2015 W01 37 3456 Thomas Bob 198989898X 198989898X 5/23/2015 W01 37 3333 White Thelma 456456456X 456456456X 5/23/2015 W01 37 3456 Hubert Sunny 777777777X 777777777X 11/1/2015 W15 37 3456 Smith Joe 999999999X 999999999X 5/23/2015 W22

Sorting by withdrawal code allows district staff to spend resources on verifying those codes that affect a school's graduation rate, such as the dropout codes. Example 4: Four-Year File Sorted by Withdrawal Code All corrections should be recorded on the four-year file. File DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.P4

District School Last Name

First Name Student_ID Alias_Student_ID

Grade Level

ESE Flag

Withdrawal Date

Withdrawal Code

Action Field

Action Date

37 2121 Jones Jacob 123456789X 123456789X 10 N 2/3/2014 DNE W3A 20100823 37 2121 Arbor Tree 888888888X 888888888X 12 N 5/23/2015 W01 37 3333 Roberts Daphne 343434343X 343434343X 12 N 5/23/2015 W06 37 3456 Thomas Bob 198989898X 198989898X 12 N 5/23/2015 W06 37 3333 White Thelma 456456456X 456456456X 12 N 5/23/2015 W07 37 2121 Thomas Bob 676767676X 676767676X 9 N 3/9/2013 DNE DUP 20110608 37 3456 Hubert Sunny 777777777X 777777777X 10 Y 11/1/2014 W15 37 3456 Smith Joe 999999999X 999999999X 11 N 5/23/2015 W22

This file includes the final status at the end of the four-year window. At this point, all W01s for students in the 12th grade should be verified, as well as W02s. Is Tree Arbor still in school as this report shows, or has her diploma code not been updated? Did Thelma White really get a special diploma (W07)? Her SWD flag indicates she is not an exceptional education student (gifted excluded).


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Appendix B: Example Duplicates File DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS DPS50.GQ.F63494.Y15165.DUPS (Do not sort this file.)

DIST# SCHL# Last Name First Name ID#

Alias ID DOB Grade Race Gender SWD Lunch ELL Migrant

Home-less WD Date WD Definition

At-Risk DUP?

50 1234 L Name GABRIELLE 6X 53 18-Feb 11 H F N N N N N 20160603 W3A OTHERTRANS N Y 42 4567 L Name GABRIELLE 68 68 18-Feb 9 H F N N N N N 20140604 W01 OTHERNGD N Y 48 1234 L Name JONATHAN 3X 3X 13-Nov 10 H M N N N N N 20160720 W01 OTHERNGD N/A Y 50 4567 L Name JONATHAN 69 69 13-Nov 9 M M N N N N N 20140604 W3A OTHERTRANS N/A Y 50 1234 L Name JOHN 73 73 23-Jul 11 W M Y N N N N 20160603 W01 OTHERNGD N Y 13 4567 L Name JOHN 7X 7X 23-Jul 9 W M Y N N N N 20140605 W3A OTHERTRANS N Y 50 1234 L Name JOSUE 42 42 13-Apr 10 A M N N N N N 20141110 WGD GEDS N/A Y 56 4567 L Name JOSUE 23 23 13-Apr 9 W M N N N N N 20140520 W02 OTHERNGD N/A Y 47 5678 L Name JOSUE 54 54 13-Apr 9 H M N Y N N N 20140415 W3A OTHERTRANS N/A Y 50 1234 L Name TRAY 6X 6X 29-Mar 11 B M N N N N N 20160603 W01 OTHERNGD Y Y 13 4567 L Name TROY 6X 6X 29-Mar 9 B M N N N N N 20140220 W02 OTHERNGD Y Y 50 1234 L Name CHRISTY 0X 0X 29-Apr 11 W F N N N N N 20160603 W01 OTHERNGD N Y 56 4567 L Name CHRISTY 0X 10 29-Apr 9 W F N N N N N 20140611 W01 OTHERNGD N Y 50 1234 L Name BRYAN 43 43 17-May 11 H M Y Y N N N 20160603 W01 OTHERNGD Y Y

6 4567 L Name BRYAN 1X 1X 17-May 10 H M Y N N N N 20150115 W3A OTHERTRANS Y Y 50 1234 L Name HEATHER 1X 1X 11-Oct 11 B F N Y N N N 20160603 W01 OTHERNGD Y Y 48 4567 L Name HEATHER 1X 88 11-Oct 10 B F N Y N N N 20141207 W3A OTHERTRANS Y Y

5 1234 L Name CAMRYN 20 20 28-Apr 11 W F N N N N N 20160622 W01 OTHERNGD N Y 40 4567 L Name CAMRYN 0X 0X 28-Apr 11 W F N Y N N N 20160604 W01 OTHERNGD N Y 50 5678 L Name CAMRYN 5X 5X 28-Apr 11 W F N N N N N 20160324 W3A OTHERTRANS N Y 50 1234 L Name BRENDA 7X 84 1-Apr 10 W F N N N N N 20160121 W3A OTHERTRANS N Y

6 4567 L Name BRENDA 12 12 1-Apr 10 H F N N N N N 20150212 W15 DROPOUT N Y

St. Lucie should change Josue and Christy to W3A. Dade should change Troy to W3A. Madison should change Camryn to W3A. Broward should change Brenda to W3A, and St. Johns should change John to W3A.

Districts must not make changes to this file! Corrections must be made to the DPS##.GQ.F63494.Y15165 file


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Appendix C: Frequently Asked Questions about Florida’s Cohort Graduation Rates What is a cohort? For graduation rate purposes, a cohort is a group of students who enter the 9th grade at the same time and on the same schedule to graduate four years later. How is the cohort graduation rate calculated? The graduation rate is the number of standard diploma recipients (numerator) divided by the total number of students in the adjusted cohort (denominator). The denominator (adjusted cohort) is attained by compiling and classifying four years of individual student records to determine which students entered 9th grade for the first time four years prior to the year of the rate calculation; which students transferred into the cohort as 9th graders in year one, 10th graders in year two, 11th graders in year three, and 12th graders in year four; and which students from the group transferred out or died. The numerator is the number of standard diploma recipients from the adjusted cohort. Are graduation rates disaggregated by student subgroups? Yes. The graduation rates are disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, students with disabilities, English Language Learners, economically disadvantaged (students eligible for free/reduced-price lunches), at-risk, and migrant students. What are the advantages to using a cohort graduation rate method? The cohort method allows for the adjustment of student mobility, thus providing a more accurate picture of the students’ progress and outcomes. There is a school listed on my cohort file that has been closed. Why is that and how can it be corrected? Districts should ensure that all students in the closed school have been properly and accurately transferred out and coded correctly. However, it is conceivable for students to be coded as dropouts prior to the closing of the school. In these circumstances, data for that school will still be included in the district’s graduation rate calculation and a rate will be calculated for that school. How can I identify which students are going to be in my school’s cohort? The FDOE builds the three-year preliminary list of students in a district/school cohort each April and provides it to the districts to begin reviewing. This file does not include the data from year four of the cohort, since that year’s data is not due until after the school year ends. (Survey dates are listed online every year at http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/database-manuals-updates.) If a school would like to know which students are in its cohort prior to then, the school should work with their local MIS staff to develop such reports. MIS staff are provided

http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/database-manuals-updates

http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/database-manuals-updates


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the general programming steps required to build the cohort. Districts and schools are cautioned, though, that much can happen during the last four to five months in a school year, and whatever report they receive will be very tentative. Some districts use the data element “Year Entered Ninth Grade, Graduation Requirements Determination” to build a report to identify the possible students in a certain cohort. Districts are cautioned that this is not the intent of this data element at this time and would not yield exact results, but it is a workable method for estimating purposes. Where can I find a complete list of the withdrawal and diploma codes used in Florida? Appendices A and B in the Database Manuals for the Automated Student Database System, online at http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/database-manuals-updates/2015-16-student-info-system/index.stml, define all the withdrawal and diploma codes. If a dropout re-enrolls in another high school, how is this student counted in the four-year graduation rate? The goal of the cohort graduation rate is to determine the final educational outcome for all students during the four-year window. So, for graduation rate purposes, a prior dropout should be updated to a transfer if the student is later found enrolled in another school. How are students who are retained handled? The student remains in the same cohort no matter how many times he or she is retained. Again, an accurate graduation rate can only occur when students are counted in only one cohort. Unless the retained student can “catch up” with his cohort by making up credits, etc., the student will be a nongraduate in the cohort rate. What happens if a student who was retained in 9th grade in year one of the cohort transfers to another school in the district in year two of the cohort? This student remains in the original cohort. The student does not “start over” in another cohort. The graduation rate is based upon the student’s initial entry into 9th grade in the district; it is not based upon his/her initial entry into 9th grade at a particular school. An accurate graduation rate reflects the final outcome of all students four years after their initial entry into 9th grade. Cohort-based graduation rates are accurate only if each student is assigned to a single cohort. The USED’s Non-Regulatory Guidance paper for NCLB addresses this issue:

If a student who has repeated a grade transfers into a school, the student should be assigned to the cohort in which the student started 9th grade for the first time. This assignment prevents the student from being included in two separate cohorts of 9th graders—the cohort in which the student originally started 9th grade and the cohort in which the student was assigned in the school to which he or she transferred. Unless the student skipped a grade later in high school or caught up with the original cohort in




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some other manner, that student could not graduate within four years of starting 9th grade.5

How are students who graduated early, such as those who graduate with the 18 credit hour diploma, counted? Students who graduate early are still counted in the cohort for which they were originally assigned. Example: A student entered ninth 9th in 2013-14. She is expected to graduate within four years, by 2016-17. She graduated a year early (2015-16) but will not be counted until 2016-17. We look for the educational outcome during the four-year period. How should students completing credits through virtual school be coded for graduation? Should the virtual school number or their zoned school number be used? If the virtual school is coded and reported as the school of enrollment and can issue diplomas, then a rate is calculated for that school. If the zoned school is the student’s school of enrollment, be sure to code the virtual courses as school of instruction. The school of enrollment issues the diploma and is used for cohort purposes. A virtual school can issue a diploma for a student who is full-time at the virtual school. What about students who take longer than four years to graduate? Students taking longer than four years to graduate would be considered nongraduates in the four-year cohort graduation rate. Are summer graduates included in the graduation rate? Yes, summer graduates are counted if they graduate by the end of the current school year, which includes summer school. If a student gets a certificate of completion at the end of the year but takes a course in summer school to earn the 2.0 GPA, does the student count in the graduation rate if the student gets the GPA before June 30? Yes, if the student is reported with an applicable diploma type on the Student End of Year Status records submitted to the FDOE for that school year. If the student is not reported with a diploma on the end-of-year records for that year, the student would not be counted as a graduate. Does the student who earns a certificate of completion but has not passed the FCAT 2.0 count if the student takes the ACT or SAT in June and gets the concordant score before June 30? The student will count if the student is awarded a diploma by the district and it is reported with a diploma code on the end-of-year record for the applicable school year. The FDOE will identify graduates for the graduation rate based on the diploma type reported for students on the Student End of Year Status record format. Survey 5 data collected on end-

5 NCLB High School Graduation Rate, Non-Regulatory Guidance, December 2008.

http://www.fldoe.org/eias/dataweb/database_0910/st80_1.pdf

http://www.fldoe.org/eias/dataweb/database_0910/0910seoy.asp


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of-year records covers students who were enrolled at any time during the 180-day school year as well as during the school year’s associated summer session, as reported by the districts. A student who is not reported with a diploma type on end-of-year records would not be counted as a graduate. A student’s status is determined by the most recently reported withdrawal code, certificate type, or diploma type on the end-of-year records. What is the “federal or uniform” graduation rate? As defined in 34 C.F.R. §200.19(b)(1)(i)-(iv), “the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (hereafter referred to as ‘the four-year graduation rate’) is the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class. From the beginning of 9th grade, students who are entering that grade for the first time form a cohort that is subsequently ‘adjusted’ by adding any students who transfer into the cohort later during the 9th grade and the next three years, subtracting any students who transfer out, emigrate to another country, or die during that same period.” Only standard diploma recipients are counted as graduates, and transfers can only be removed from the cohort if the student transfers to an educational program that culminates with a standard diploma. Florida already had the tracking system in place to calculate the cohort graduation rate. However, Florida had to adjust its list of applicable graduates and transfers in order to fully comply with the new rules as set forth in Section 200.19(b)(1)(ii)(B)(1). Federal guidelines stipulate that only students who transfer to another school or educational program that culminates with a standard diploma can be removed from the cohort. Why can’t the graduation rate and the dropout rate be added together to get 100%? The rates apply to different periods of measurement.

Graduation rate is a four-year, cohort-based indicator. Dropout rate is a single-year indicator.

The rates apply to different populations.

Graduation rate tracks the progress of a group of students who entered the same grade at the same time over a four-year period. Dropout rate tracks all students in grades 9 through 12 in a single year.

Not all nongraduates in the cohort are dropouts. Some students have been retained and are still in school, or some students received certificates of completion. These completers are considered nongraduates, not dropouts.

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